Aussie shines after strong labor data
The Australian dollar rose in Asian trade on Thursday against a basket of major rivals, resuming gains against the US dollar and approaching a five-month high following strong Australian data.
The data renewed the pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policymakers and tanked the odds of a rate cut next week.
The Price
The AUD/USD price rose 0.4% today to $0.6458, with a session-low at $0.6422.
The pair lost 0.65% on Wednesday away from a week high at $65.02, and after marking a five-month high at 65.15 last week.
Australian Labor Sector
Australia's unemployment rate was unchanged in April at 4.1%, same as March, and matching expectations.
The Australian economy added 89.0 thousand new jobs in April, easily beating estimates of a 20.9 thousand addition, while March's reading was revised to show the addition of 32.2 thousand jobs instead of 36.4 thousand.
The data renewed inflationary pressures on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policymakers, which hurt the odds of a rate cut in May.
The RBA held interest rates unchanged at 4.1% at the previous April meeting but opened the door for a May rate cut.
The current odds of such a rate cut by the RBA in May currently stand at 75%.
The recent reduction of global trade tensions led analysts to reduce their expectations for Australian rate cuts this year.
The markets now expect the RBA to cut rates to 3.1% by the end of the year, up from 2.85% in previous forecasts.
Australian economy adds more jobs than expected in April
The Australian economy added 89.0 thousand new jobs in April, easily beating estimates of a 20.9 thousand addition, while March's reading was revised to show the addition of 32.2 thousand jobs instead of 36.4 thousand.
Oil driven lower by surprise US inventory builup
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after official data showed US crude stocks fell unexpectedly last week.
The Energy Information Administration reported a buildup of 3.5 million barrels in US crude stocks last week to a total of 441.8 million barrels, while analysts expected a drop to 1.8 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks fell by a million barrels to 224.7 million barrels, as distillate stocks fell by 3.2 million barrels to 103.6 million barrels.
US net crude imports rose by 422 thousand bpd in seven days ending May 9.
Otherwise, OPEC maintained its forecasts for global oil demand growth this year and the next at 1.3 million bpd.
But it cut forecasts for oil supply growth from the US and other non-OPEC+ producers from 900 thousand bpd to 800 thousand bpd.
On trading, Brent crude futures due in July fell 0.81%, or 54 cents to $66.09 a barrel.
US crude futures due in June fell 0.82%, or 52 cents to $63.15 a barrel.